This Black Friday the lives of low-wage retail workers were thrust into the spot light as employees of a variety of stores weent to work on Thanksgiving Day and strikersdescended on Walmart stores in 100 cities.
In a recent study by non-partisan public policy center, Dēmos, Catherine Ruetschlin explores the demographics of low-wage retail workers.
Some important and troubling statistics:
- 63 percent of female retail workers qualify as low-wage.
- 26 percent of low-wage retail workers are in total or near poverty.
- 89 percent of people in poverty with low-wage retail jobs contribute at least 50 percent of their family's income.
- The average full-time retail worker makes 14.42 an hour, while the average full-time low-wage retail worker makes9.61 an hour.
The study found that if retailers raised low-wage workers' pay to just $25,000 it would create more than 100,000 jobs.
